The Purple Man

This is not a story of gore and fright. I am an average guy telling a story about one of my strangest experiences. My story is about my encounter with a mysterious thing that I presume is a man that impacted my life a bit. Although this involves no monsters, death or psychopaths I hope you enjoy this tale of a normal day that took a turn for one of the most mysterious events in my life.

On a perfect winter Monday, I woke up and noticed it is 10:00am. It was almost spring with the temperature warming up and the flowers blooming. Normally I’d be worried, but it was a day-off for me. I stood up feeling refreshed with my cat greeting me at my bedroom door. I took a shower and finished my morning routine except for having no specific deadline to show up for work or school. Naturally, I’d be in a hurry and rushing for the door, but instead, I took my time. Getting myself looking good, I remembered my scheduled date for me and my girlfriend to have lunch. I’m a laid back person so I kicked back sent a message to her and waited for my girlfriend to text me back any more necessary details.

She responded, “I’ll be ready in 30 minutes don’t worry.”

As I sat watching TV and checking my phone occasionally, I prepared myself to her up at 11:15. The clock struck 10:30, I tried to multitask by paying attention to the time while listening to the TV that displayed my favorite comedy. It was a hilarious sketch show with my favorite actors/comedians. Seeing it was 10:45, I left my apartment and arrived as promised. She broke the ice by deciding where we should go. She chose Ruby Tuesdays so we could dress informally and have a great meal. The drive was quick especially since we passed time with the radio and conversing about local events lately.

We cracked jokes about current celebrities, trends, and other events in the news. My girlfriend and I parked at our restaurant of choice at roughly 11:45, where we noticed the lunch rush had started. The polite hostess told us how we would have to wait about 45 minutes to get a table ready. My girlfriend tried to make light of the situation by saying:

“We can wait, besides it's not like we’re starving now.” I sighed and we both sat outside on a nearby bench.

I anxiously sat hoping the beeper would go off soon. We discussed school and other things before getting interrupted. She had to go to the bathroom. I could not help to stare as she walked away because I would be alone waiting for her while staring at nearby traffic and nature. I sat on that bench observing the streets, trees and people around me. I was bored out of my mind and constantly checked my phone. It was exactly 12:20 when my girlfriend left, but not even a minute went by before I had seen everything in my view of the town.

I then looked straight ahead to notice what appeared to be a man staring directly at me from across the street. From what I could tell he was wearing jeans and a pure white jacket that had no design or logo. The man also wore bland black sneakers that did not have any unique details either. What stood out was his skin was a dark purple. He stood still for what I thought was 5 minutes, just staring at me. I looked at my phone to try and ease the awkward situation, but it read 12:20. I lifted my head to see him and he was still there. Then the man started walking towards me. He walked at a pace that made every step feel like a tremor to what would become an earthquake.

I turned to observe other things around me while keeping him in my sight. Nothing showed any movement, not even the cars that seemed parked in the road now. He took another step. Not looking both way, he kept his attention entirely on me. He took another step that took about a whole 2 minutes. I took another quick look at my phone. It read 12:20. This should not be right I even tried to count the seconds, but the time did not move.

The man was 40 feet away and kept walking towards me in a perfectly straight line. I began to nervously sweat. My hand started to shake while holding my phone that still read 12:20. He took another step. A feeling of hopelessness set in. I sensed that whatever this man’s objective was towards me, he’d follow through with it. He took another step. My heart started pounding like a jackhammer.

I now had my attention solely on him. He took another step. I took another look at everything around me, but nothing was moving or even making a sound. The man took another step. In my vision my focus was purely on him. The street, cars, and trees faded from my sight and were replaced with pure white space. With no sound or other objects around me, my imagination went out of control. The man took another step. I was petrified with fear. I could not move even if I wanted to, but if I could there was no place to go.

I began questioning myself thousands of times. Why is he focused on me? Where did he come from? Who is he? What is he? These questions among many others went rapid fire in my mind, causing the biggest panic I had ever felt. He took another step and was now only about 25 feet away from me. I turned towards my phone and read 12:20. I dropped my phone and stood up. My heart was racing when I looked up to see the man only 10 feet away. I could see more precise details about him now. His skin was dark purple, his irises were pitch black, and he had a medium sized nose.

He did not have ears, a mouth or hair either. It was madness. No creature I have ever heard of matched his characteristics. He took another step that just prolonged my curiosity, insanity and suffering. I was trembling trying to stay on my feet as he took another step. Where he planted his feet and became like a living statue. Now he stood approximately three feet in front of me staring directly into my eyes. There was only pure white space other than us and no sounds. He did not move anymore he just stood in front of me locking eye contact. I was immobilized with fear of what he might do. I tried to say something, but when I said something, he did not react. We just stood, staring into each others eyes for what felt like an eternity. I felt as if my soul was about to be sucked into the abyss of his pitch black eyes.

My heart was beating so fast like it was going to burst. The creature I thought was a man did not even move, and it seemed like he had total control over the area. He kept eye contact, and I did too. The thing started to move its arm. I watched intently praying It would be merciful. All of a sudden before the creature could communicate, I blinked. I then continued to blink a ton of times before my eyes adjusted to what was around me. I looked around, cars finally moved, a breeze made the trees’ branches sway and everything in the environment from before was accounted for. I picked up my phone sat on the bench once more and read the time 12:21. I had never been so relieved in my life.

I was finally out of the curse that the purple man had put into place. Which reminded me, I could not find him anywhere. In a blink of an eye, he disappeared. He left me with an infinite number of questions that could not be answered. My girlfriend walked up to me and said, “How long do we have now.”

I looked at my phone and replied, “Five more minutes.”

“Thank god, I’m starving,” she said, which made me laugh.

We then walked up to the hostess who lead us to our table. Our waiter approached us and we ordered drinks before choosing what to eat. As I looked at the menu, I saw something in the corner of my eye. It was a message written in purple crayon on the table where I sat. My girlfriend asked me what it said and I nervously read out loud:

“The deepest form of communication does not involve reading or conversation, but is only interpreted by those closest to you.”